Meet the Chairs

Laura Hedin, Ph.D.

Laura Hedin retired from the Morgridge Endowed Chair Office in March 2024. Since coming to the College of Education in 2007, she has prioritized building and sustaining relationships with area districts, hosting professional development workshops and conducting field-based research (e.g., co-teaching, inclusion and high-leverage practices). Foundational to these field-based activities was her desire to improve student outcomes through enhancement of teachers' effectiveness.

The Morgridge Office's mission closely aligns with the College of Education's Strategic Action Planning Framework (PDF) with a focus on scholarship that informs educator preparation, effectiveness and retention.

Under Hedin's recent leadership as the Morgridge Endowed Chair, the Morgridge Office worked to advance educator effectiveness and student outcomes by supporting research and applied professional training in field-based settings. The Morgridge Office supported grants and scholarship focused on enhancement of knowledge, skills, socio-emotional development and problem-solving of pre-service and in-service educators and their students.

Former Chairs

The LD and Ruth G. Morgridge Endowed Chair emphasizes innovation and advancement in teacher education, particularly in relation to the integration of technology into classroom practice.

The first two Morgridge Chairs, Donna Wiseman, Ph.D., and Sharon Smaldino, Ph.D., focused on building relationships with school districts and developing Partnership Projects aimed at infusing technology into K-12 and college classrooms.

Our third Morgridge Chair, Yanghee Kim, Ph.D., was an advocate for using advanced technology to innovate classrooms. She conducted research on the use of state-of-the-art technologies (pedagogical agents, humanoid robots and online learning) to support equitable and inclusive technology-based learning experiences.